....Again and again, with guest conductor Pinchas Steinberg on the podium, I marvelled at the sheer polish and eloquent pliancy of the playing- with plenty of excitement when called for. It was most vividly displayed in the Dvorak Eighth symphony.......Steinberg has extensive experience in opera as well as symphonic music, and the former showed in a wonderfully vocal feeling for phrases. Notable too, was his attention to balances, and to fine nuances of pianissimo....Steinberg seem also to give the orchestra musicians freedom to add their own expressive touches. All told, you'd be hard- pressed to hear a more compelling Dvorak Eighth anywhere.

An impassionate standing ovation paid tribute to a concert version of Simon Boccanegra of Guiseppe Verdi given sunday March 5th at the Rainer III auditorium in Monaco.

Between an excellent vocal cast (..) and a masterful musical direction which brought out the finest qualities of the Monte-Carlo Philarmonic Orchestra. (..), the enthusiasm of the public was genuine and merited.

The flawless interpretation of conductor Pinchas Steinberg does not surprise us in the least. We already knew about the undeniable talent of the maestro from his previous productions in the Principality, whether it was Une tragédie Florentine, Pagliacci in February 2015 or Fanciulla del West in November 2012.

As if mounted on invisible springs, the rather frail silhouette of Pinchas Steinberg is in opposition to the strong fervor of his baton, which cuts through the air with incredible precision. With opened arms Steinberg creates a rarely heard power at the end of the prologue, while at other times he brings down the intensity of the orchestra in order to respect the delicate qualities of a voice. The Monte-Carlo Philarmonic responds with impeccable instrumental integrity and allows us to enjoy a myriad of nuances from dense to refined, from ethereal to dazzling.

The Maestro leads singers and chorus with the same integrated precision. A sublime result which allows us to be aware of the tremendous craftsmanship behind the scenes.

Announcing an evening of “ Great Voices “, it was indeed a cast of high quality and great unity that was proposed this sunday to the public of the Theatre of the Champs Elysées under the masterful direction of Pinchas Steinberg. Mr. Steinberg draws a myriad of colors and musical expression out of the Orchestre Philarmonique de Monte Carlo, interchanging moments of ethereal weightlessness with powerful passages of considerable dramatic weight, driven by intense physical engagement.

The Maestro’s precise baton is grounded in a deep-seated knowledge of the score, visually singing the soloist parts in order to bring out phrasing and breath. He leads his interpreters through each accent and nuance: musicians and singers all respond to these demands in the same spirited commitment.

The Opéra de Monte-Carlo Chorus (…) equally powerful and refined, is perfectly integrated.

The value of the piece, which like Ernani is relatively rarely programmed, is entirely validated by this musical interpretation.

Pinchas Steinberg masterfully begins the evening by creating an atmosphere of extreme tenderness that sets the stage for the chaos that is yet to come. In response to this ardent opening the opulent string sound beckons the initial entrance of Salomé ( “ Wie gut ist's, in der Mond zu sehn..." ) Hand in hand with the staging, the conductor distills an interpretation with eloquent power in a comfortable and supple halo in which the tensest moments, the most brutal accents never become dry nor indulgent.

The authority of Pinchas Steinberg, his precise and exacting gestures [.....] narrate the entire story [....] All the genius of Strauss' opera explodes without ever covering the voices. An absolute mastery of Salomé which evoques none other than Fritz Reiner's.

Jean-Charles Hoffelé, concertclassic.com, September 2011

Hector Berlioz, Symphonie Fantastique, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra

On the podium, guest conductor Pinchas Steinberg returned for the second time this season, and wowed the good-sized audience in Music Hall with his interpretation of Berlioz's "Symphonie fantastique" after intermission.Steinberg, who gripped the audience in November with Prokofiev, had them cheering with Berlioz’s “Symphonie fantastique.” Born in Israel, he is a deeply musical leader who is dynamic without being flamboyant. Clearly, he knows how to get results.Berlioz’s symphony on a drug-induced fantasy world is entertaining, both for its brilliant orchestration and its vivid story-telling. Steinberg, who conducted from memory, led a reading was detailed, crisp and expertly paced. The musicians responded with a polished, exciting performance, and there were many stunning contributions from orchestral soloists.Janelle Gelfand, Cincinnati Enquirer, March 2012

At the end of a series of very successful performances at the Rome Opera House, one needs to say that this success was due principally to Maestro Steinberg, an outstanding connoisseur of the score. It was a spectacular performance, he was in total command with bold,clear and expressive gestures

Paolo Isotta, Corriere della Sera, March 2012

Cleveland Orchestra, works by Nicolai, Nielsen and Mahler, December 2010

In a recent interview Pinchas Steinberg likened the Cleveland Orchestra to a Rolls-Royce, and apt analogy for an ensemble with a powerful engine under a shiny musical hood. But if the orchestra is a luxury car, then Steinberg’s concert was no mere jaunt. Rather, it was a thorough evaluation, with a large symphonic staple, a challenging concerto and a brilliant overture putting the vehicle through its paces. What’s more, all systems performed beautifully. Steinberg set forth his intentions with Nicolai’s overture to “The Merry Wives of Windsor”. That he’s an artist of great precision and animation was immediately clear, and the sprightly, vivid performance quickly whetted the appetite, as overtures should. In the same interview as the Rolls-Royce comparison, Steinberg said his goal with the orchestra this week was to present performances impossible to take in passively. It’s is a mission he can consider accomplished yet again. Mahler’s Symphony n. 1 is this orchestra’s bread and butter, part of the canon the group has been groomed over decades to play especially well. Still, Steinberg was firmly in command, leading from memory a keenly articulate performance marked equally by emotional and dramatic intensity. Just as Mahler himself frequently recasts the same music, so did Steinberg find ways to endow repeated sections with fresh significance. And if Mahler in the first movement asks for a natural unfolding, he got it from Steinberg, in a reading notable for its organic accretion of force. Try as he might, even a listener prepared for the last movement’s opening outburst was still caught off guard by the raw severity of the boom unleashed by Steinberg and the orchestra. Yet if that marked peak volume, the rest of the movement also entailed heights of tenderness and lyricism. It was Mahler at his most mercurial, and by the end, Steinberg had guaranteed nothing was left in the tank.

The musical performance conducted by Pinchas Steinberg deserves attention, because he doesn’t do the usual honeyed “Butterfly”, full of mawkish sentimentalism. In fact, the sound is dry and sharp… and it is the sound of a modern Puccini.Corriere della Sera, Enrico Girardi, November 14, 2010

Some further musical idea comes from the orchestra, where the expert gesture of Pinchas Steinberg extracts an unexpected richness of patterns from the score. There is no melancholy, no tears on the humming choir, but yes, there is the cultured and international breathing of a Puccini free from provincialism.Il Sole 24 ore, Carla Moreni, November 14, 2010

To Puccini’s most refined score, which seizes the Japanese setting in its lightness and filmy transparency, Steinberg assures fluidity, precision and poetry. The orchestra of the Regio followed him well: in this way the idyllic enchantment of the first act gradually darkens in its colours and harmony, among silences which are as expressive as the notes, until the terrible final stroke.La Stampa, November 16, 2010

When Puccini’s music is really performed as it is written – and not as it has been reduced in order to sterilize its contents –, it is exactly this what its harmonic violences describe, its ripped melodies which do not speak of a comforting melancholy, but of a desperate schizophrenia. And this is exactly what Pinchas Steinberg does at the head of a superbe orchestra and a magnificent cast… a memorable Butterfly.Il Giornale, Elvio Giudici, November 14, 2010

If Cio-Cio San comes alive on stage through good direction, she is exalted by the addition of inspired conducting. Pinchas Steinberg elevates the music of Pucccini and conducts the orchestra of the Teatro Regio creating an intensity of colors and a brilliance rarely heard. At the end of the evening the enthusiasm of the public was very evident, and the commentaries unanimous in confirming the exceptional quality of this production. A welcomed renewal with the Italian opera tradition and its character, so admirably excessive, which retains here its full identity even under a modern staging.Resmusic.com, November 21, 2010

Die tote Stadt, like Das Wunder des Heliane, is an opera that highlights the orchestra, rich, colorful, with infinite depth and a neverending musical line. It calls for a master interpreter. Pinchas Steinberg is one of the champions of the evening. Through his vitality, his attention to details, his profound understanding of the whole score, his incredible precision, he communicates to both stage and audience a palette of sensations allowing all to feel bewildered and spellbound. A great conductor.Concertonet, Santiago Martin Bermudez, June 2010

No doubt about it: it’s the best opera performance of this season at the Real: the best because it’s the better balanced, the most thrilling and heartbreaking, the most authentic, the deepest.First of all, due to the extraordinary musical direction of Pinchas Steinberg. The veteran maestro showed off the Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid at its best. The orchestra responded with a performance fully dramatic, magnificent in its nuances. And now comes the question: how is it possible that this same orchestra gave such boring versions in other occasions? Everyone should come to his own conclusions. El Pais, Juan Ángel Vela del Campo, June 16, 2010

Some singularities in the première of yesterday deserve to be highlighted. The musical direction of Pinchas Steinberg should be the first one, as it leaves behind the aftertaste of the profound and wise know-how that will lead us to the sublime when the Orquesta Sinfonica de Madrid contributes with a sound of quality.ABC, Alberto González Lapuente, June 15, 2010

Pinchas Steinberg’s baton obtains from the orchestra its best virtues: ductility, commitment, sense of ensemble, all in a joyful interpretation that shows, once again, how the pit reacts to the spirit and expertise of a director who really has something to say. The public received this novelty with what soon changed from mere attention to respect, then appreciation, to end in an enthusiasm awarding those responsible for such an unexpected gift. The outstanding musical version fits like a glove to the scenic conception by Willy Decker.El Mundo, Álvaro del Amo, June 15, 2010

Pinchas Steinberg, from the pit, was the landlord and owner of the night, bringing out one of the most fulfilling performances of the Sinfónica de Madrid one could remember.La Razon, José Luis Pérez de Arteaga, June 15, 2010

Steinberg does justice to Schumann’s Transfiguration(…) A fundamental contribution to the balance is given by the conductor’s ability. (…) This has been confirmed by the excellent performance of maestro Pinchas Steinberg, who has successfully conducted the large masses: the attentive and disciplined Philharmonic Orchestra, Choir and Children’s Choir of the Teatro alla Scala. Under his firm and accurate hand the three parts of the Scenes have proved that their original unit isn’t impossible to achieve, but that Schumann succeeded in great measure in transforming Goethe’s genius in music. Very much appreciated was Steinberg’s ductility in the “accompaniments”: this is where a real conductor distinguishes oneself.

A dense and torrential score, Die Tote Stadt is a conductor's opera. With Pinchas Steinberg it found its champion. Leading the opera orchestra rarely heard in such radiant form, the Israeli conductor never plays the self indulgent nor the sensationalist card. He also does not allow the music to intoxicate him, but rather stays geared to the singers, for whom this work is like climbing the Cervin with bare hands.

Nicolas d'Estienne d'Orves, Le Figaro, October 5, 2009

"Die Tote Stadt" - Korngold's most famous opera, wins over the Opera Bastille

In the orchestra pit Pinchas Steinberg who is not effusive, controls this masterpiece exactly as it should be: this discipline unleashes an irresistible erotic strength throughout this usually unrestrained sensual music.

Equally up to the task is the orchestra conducting. To see the economical gestures of Pinchas Steinberg pull out of the score a palette of rhythms and colors of such subtlety is fascinating . Under his cartesian direction the Opera orchestra blossoms with a freedom and virtuosity very rarely heard. A sonic fantasy of spectacular beauty develops naturally to the ear, while the eye observes a rigourous supervision. An enigma that serves completely the creativity of Korngold.

Nicolas Joel's affinity for certain artists brings back Pinchas Steinberg at the head of an Orchestre de l'Opera national de Paris in great form. If one remembers an exceptional Tristan and a magnificent Frau ohne Schatten at the Capitole (...) , it is no surprise that here there is also a spectacular rendering of he score down to the smallest details. Mixing strength and subtlety, with attention to all solo nuances encompassed in a pertinent dramatic vision, he greatly inspires this Tote Stadt.

Pinchas Steinberg in the pit, brings the Opera orchestra to its pinnacle. He avoids all self indulgence in the reading of the score bringing out the dramatic thread, with tremendous restraint, building tension to cataclysmic heights while never threatening the singers.